Something Rotten! to be staged in concert in the West End, starring Jason Manford

Exclusive: The hit Broadway musical comedy Something Rotten! will have its UK concert premiere this summer.

The musical, created by Hollywood screenwriters Karey Kirkpatrick (Chicken Run), John O’Farrell (Just For One Day), and Grammy Award-winning songwriter Wayne Kirkpatrick (Mrs Doubtfire), follows the story of Renaissance writers Nick and Nigel Bottom as they seek to outshine Shakespeare by writing the world’s first musical.

Originally opened on Broadway at the St James Theatre in 2015, the piece received several Best Musical nominations, and ten Tony Award nominations. A UK run in Birmingham, originally planned for 2020, was postponed by the pandemic, and the show has never been seen professionally on these shores.

All that is about to change – the piece will now play at Theatre Royal Drury Lane on Monday 5 August and Tuesday 6 August.

Directed by Tim Jackson (Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York)), the show will star Jason Manford (The Producers) as Nick Bottom, while further casting is to be revealed. The full Broadway score will be performed by the London Musical Theatre Orchestra, conducted by Freddie Tapner (Love Never Dies).

Tickets for Something Rotten! in Concert go on general sale at 10 am on 10 May 2024. It is to be produced by Fourth Wall Live, JAS Theatricals, and the London Musical Theatre Orchestra in association with Alchemation. Fourth Wall Live and the London Musical Theatre Orchestra produced the WhatsOnStage Award-winning concert of Love Never Dies.

Further casting and creatives are to be announced.

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